Cylinder liner and sleeve assembly for reciprocating pumps



I June 2, 1953 A. LEMAN 2,540,434

CYLINDER LINER AND sLEEvE ASSEMBLY FOR RECIPROCATING PUMPS Filed June 2.1949 Patented June 2, 1953 CYLINDER LINER AND SLEEVE ASSEMBLY FORRECIPROCATING PUMPS Arthur L. Leman, Houston, Tex.

Application June 2, 1949, Serial No. 96,725

9 Claims.

My present invention concerns reciprocating piston pumps such asemployed in the drilling of oil wells and elsewhere. More particularlyit aims to provide an improved construction and arrangement for cylinderliners and sleeves for such liners and to facilitate the interchangeableinstallation of reduced size liners especially in high-pressure powerdriven pumps for deep wells.

In drilling oil Wells, the drill pipe and bit are rotated and fluid iscirculated down through the. drill pipe, out through holes in the bitand then up through the annular space between the drill pipe and thewall of the drilled hole, carrying out the cuttings. As the hole becomesdeeper, more joints of drill pipe are added. Each, such additionincreases the resistance to fluid flow. When the pump pressure requiredto produce a certain rate of circulation becomes excessive, it isnecessary to reduce the rate of circulation. This reduction incirculation is obtained by changing to a smaller size of piston andliner bore.

On deep wells the final size often results in a liner having a wallthickness more than four times greater than desirable for the best heattreatment and hydraulic pressure requirements. As this greatly increasesth cost of an item which rapidly wears out, it is common practice torestore worn liners by welding in hardened sleeves. Re-sleeving by thiswelding method means that the worn liners must be transported fromremote oil fields to manufacturing shops where the liner can bereworked.

My invention novelly provides for quickly restoring a worn liner bychanging the sleeve in the oil field.

In the drawings illustrating by way of example one embodiment of theinvention:

Figv 1 shows in horizontal section my cylinder and sleeve liner assemblyoperatively installed in the cylinder portion of a pump;

Fig. 2 is a similar sectional view showing the sleeve liner assemblyseparately on a larger scale;

Fig. 3 is an end View looking from the left at Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is an expanded isometric view of the sleeve liner sub-assemblyunit.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a portion of a pump housing 5 including acylinder 6 for the rod and piston assembly 1 operating through a packingbox 8 on the housing.

The cylinder liner assembly or unit with which the invention isespecially concerned is designated generally at Ill, this entireremovable element being herein referred to as the cylinder liner orbriefly as the liner. It is removably fixed as in axially spacedcylindrical seats H, H in the cylinder opening and extends between theinlet-outlet chambers l2, l2 for Which the discharge valves are seen atl3, l3. This cylinder assembly It is held in place as by a spider I 5engaging the outer end thereof and secured as by a heavy screw 15 in theclamping head and cover plate It. The latter closes the access openingI"! at the outer end of this cylinder portion of the housing, where itis fastened in sealing position as by the anchor bolts l8.

The cylinder liner Ill, shown separately in Fig. 2, comprises an outercylindrical shell 20 and a replaceable inner. sleeve 30. The shell 28has at the outer end, at the right on the drawing, a retainer flange 2iengageable by the spider and clamping head l-il6 and presenting anin-facing external annular stop shoulder 22 which enters the usualrecess is at the end of the cylinder opening.

Internally the shell 20 is specially constructed at each end portion.Near the outer end it is formed with an internal in-facing annularabutment or shoulder 23. At the opposite or inner end it is internallythreaded as indicated at 2i desirably with a heavy duty'type of threadformation such as shown.

Further in accordance with the invention the inner removable sleeve'tlland immediately associated parts are novelly constructed and arrangedfor quick assembly into and removal from the shell 20. This sleeve 30 isof uniform inside diameter throughout. for sliding reception of thepiston and rod unit I. The main intermediate or body portion 3| of thesleeve 30 may be of the thickness which is best for heat treatment andpressure requirements. Noting also Fig. 4, the sleeve end portions areexternally reduced to provide at the outer end an out-facing annularabutment shoulder 32 and adjacent the other or inner end a similar butin-facing annular shoulder 33. The outer shoulder 32 provides foraxial-thrustsupporting interlock with the shell 26, at the infacingshoulder 23 thereof. Such abutti-ve engagement may be directly betweenthe sleeve and the shell. Generally and particularly with reduced'sizesleeves such as illustrated the abuttiveinterlock is through the mediumof an annular bushing or spacer and connector 35' of steel or othersubstantially incompressible material. This bushing has an axial extentcorresponding to the spacing of the sleeve shoulder 32 from the end ofthe sleeve and is itself formed with an external out-facing shoulder 36located'for' end-i 3 wise abuttive engagement by and with the shellshoulder 23.

At the opposite or inner end the sleeve 30 is positioned in coaxialparallel relation to the shell by means of a compressible packing unitdesignated generally at 40, Figs. 1, 2 and 4. Such unit as illustratedcomprises a pair of axially spaced metal junk rings 4! at the oppositesides of a compressible annular packing mass or ring 42. This packingelement 4!] is axially located on the sleeve by abutment of the innerjunk ring 4! with the in-facing sleeve shoulder 33.

In further accordance with the invention means is provided whereby thesleeve 30 and the shell 20 are demountably but securely held in fixedinterrelation under axial pressure of a high order, with the sleeveunder substantial axial compression and the shell correspondingly underaxial tension. This is accomplished through means whereby the sleeve 30is secured at both ends by a metal-to-metal contact which is independentof any packing such as the compressible element 40.

For this purpose I provide an annular end wall member 50 formed as andconstituting a regulating gland for the packing element andindependently of the latter serving the function of providingmetal-to-metal endwise thrusting connection between the shell 20 and thesleeve 30 at the inner end thereof. This gland and adjustable connectorhas a central aperture as at 5! for passage of the piston rod. It isexternally threaded for cooperative reception in the internal threading24 at the inner or mouth end of the shell 20, whereby it may be enteredinto compressive engagement with the packing element 40. Carried by thegland 50 is a plurality of threaded elements designated generally at 54paralleling the axis of the liner assembly and in approximate line withthe adjacent end face of the sleeve 30. These screw elements 54 of whicha circular series of six are 'shown in the drawing are equallydistributed in the end wall of the gland 58 around the central aperture5! thereof. Each comprises a screw proper 55 including a readilyexternally accessible wrenchreceiving head. At the inner end of eachscrew 55 is a shoe 57 disposed at the inner face of the gland 50 as in acounterbored recess 56 in line with the threaded screw apertures. Theseshoes 51 are carried at the inner ends of the pins 58 extending freelythrough central longitudinal bores in the respective screws 55 andformed at the outer ends withretaining heads 59. The shoes 51 and thegland screws 55 accordingly are in. mutual swivelling relation. Thus inbeing tightened the screws turn against the shoes while the latter makefirm abuttive metal-to-metal engagement with the adjacent end face ofthe sleeve 30. The shoes 51 further facilitate proper abuttive relationfor the screws 55 with different sizes of sleeves 30.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 4 it will be apparent that the sleeve 30, themetal bushing 35 and the packing and junk ring element 40 form asubassembly which may be installed as a single'unit by relativetelescoping with a shell 29.

of the shell, at the left in Figs. 1 and 2. Relative telescopingmovement brings the shell and sleeve into approximate transverse line atthe outer ends when the steel bushing 35 takes up against the in-facingshoulder 23 on the shell. The end wall and gland member 50, with thescrews 54 backed out, is then turned into the Suchsleeve unit is enteredat the inner or mouth 'end' 4 threaded inner end of the shell 20 and ismade up sufiiciently to compress the packing. Thereupon the screw andshoe elements 54-59 are tightened securely against the sleeve 30. Theentire assembly operation requires but a few minutes.

From the description in connection with the drawings it will beunderstood that the sleeve 30 and the shell 20 are relatively secured atboth ends by a metal-to-metal contact, at one end by the steel bushing35 and at the opposite end through the gland 5i] and swivel-relatedshoes 51 and screws 55. This metal-to-metal retainment of the sleeve,which is independent of the packing, and the associated means forexerting high axial pressure on the sleeve through the series of screwsinsures a tight sleeve throughout the entire service life.

The hardened wear-resistant sleeve 30 may be quickly renewed on the job,for example at the drilling rig, and at but a fraction of the usual costfor an entire new liner.

maintenance. By keeping the sleeve in good order the life of the pistonis extended. Further, the investment for a variety of bore sizes isreduced, the cost of sleeves being substantially less than for liners.With one complete set of the liner assembly parts at hand for a givensize of bore the operator needs to acquire only the sleeves, bushingsand packings for any other bore size. Again, the same sleeves andassociated internal parts are interchangeable over a wide range of pumpsthereby further reducing warehousing and inventory problems for the oilwell driller.

My invention is not limited to the particular embodiment thereofillustrated and described herein, and I set forth its scope in myfollowing claims.

I claim:

1. A pump cylinder liner assembly comprising a cylindrical shell havingnear the outer end an internal in-facing annular shoulder and beinginternally threaded at the inner end, a hardened metal sleeve receivablecoaxially in the shell and having adjacent the outer end an externalout-facing annular shoulder near the inner end an opposite in-facingannular shoulder, a metal bushing interposable between the sleeve andshell in abuttive relation between the outfacing sleeve shoulder and thein-facing shell shoulder, an annular packing and spacing elementreceivable between the sleeve and shell in abuttive relation to thein-facing sleeve shoulder, an annular gland externally threaded to en:ter the threaded inner end of the shell and into of the packing and withthe sleeve under com pression and the shell under tension axially.

2. A pump cylinder liner assembly accordin to claim 1 wherein asleeve-engaging metal shoe is carried at the inner end of each of thescrew elements in swivelling relation thereto.

3. In a pump having a cylinder for a reciproeating piston, a cylinderliner shell removably.

fixed in the cylinder and having open inner and outer ends, areplaceable hardened metal sleeve substantially commensurate with theshell lonv gitudinally and coaxially' positionable therein Thus underthe. invention material savings are effected in pump by telescopingentry at the inner end thereof, axially interengageable abuttive stopmeans for the sleeve and shell remote from the inner end of the latter,an internal threaded formation on the inner end of the shell, an annularend wall member externally formed for threading into said shell innerend, and a plurality of longitudinal screw elements carried by andextending through said member in general line with the shell and adaptedfor turning up against the adjacent inner end of the latter to imposeaxial compression thereon and axial tension on the liner in mutualrigidly retained relation.

4. In a pump according to claim 3 the construction and arrangementwherein the abuttive stop means includes a metal bushing on the sleeveand within the shell, and the sleeve and the shell have out-facing andin-facing annular shoulders respectively for opposite abutment with thebushing.

5. In a pump according to claim 4 the construction and arrangementwherein the metal bushing has an external out-facing shoulder engageablewith the in-facing shoulder of the shell.

6. In a pump according to claim 4 the construction and arrangementwherein the end Wall member is formed as a gland, the sleeve has anin-facing annular shoulder near the inner end, an annular packingelement surrounds the sleeve between the inner end and said shoulder,and the end wall gland member is adapted to compress the packing elementindependently of the compression-tension relation imposed on the sleeveand shell.

7. For a cylinder liner, an externally threaded annular metallic glandelement centrally apertured for passage of a piston rod, a plurality ofscrew elements paralleling the gland axis and symmetrically disposedaround the central aperture, each screw element having an axial bore,and a metal shoe at the inner end of each screw element and having acarrying pin freely rotatively received and retained in the bore of thecorresponding screw element.

8. A sleeve assembly for unitary insertion in a pump cylinder linershell, comprising a metal sleeve of uniform inner diameter and ofextreme hardness throughout the entire inner surface, said sleeve havinga main intermediate portion of generally uniform outer diameter and beinexternally reduced at each end beyond the intermediate portion toprovide annular shoulders oppositely facing the adjacent sleeve ends, ametal bushing fitted on one end of the sleeve in abutment with theshoulder thereat and itself having an external out-facing annularshoulder, and an annular packing and confining junk ring element fittedon and abutting the shoulder at the other end of the sleeve and adaptedto receive compression independently of the pressure-tension status ofthe shell and sleeve.

9. A pump cylinder liner comprising an outer cylindrical shell, aninternal infacing abutment at one end of the shell, a hardened sleevecoaxially disposed in the shell, internal threading at the other end ofthe shell, a gland having external threading engaged with said internalthreading of the shell and carrying externally accessible screw membersextending lengthwise through the gland and engaging the adjacent end ofthe sleeve for exerting endwise pressure on the sleeve and endwisetension on the shell.

ARTHUR L. LEMAN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 968,029 Cross Aug. 23, 1910 1,592,266 Hamer July 13, 19261,768,799 Stanley July 1, 1930 1,792,941 Stevenson Feb. 17, 19311,804,542 Gardner May 19, 1931 2,259,432 Failing et a1. Oct. 14, 1941

